My goal this year is to read as many books in the 33 and 1/3 series as I can (and to of course listen to each album as I go!)
So far, I’ve read Dusty Springfield - Dusty in Memphis and Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Started the Velvet Underground & Nico volume yesterday.
Beastie Boys/Paul’s Boutique is a good one.
Cool, I’ll move that one up on my list, right below Celine Dion.
Hey, it’s your reading time…
I’ve read a few of these too, (+1 on the Donuts rec), and I even wrote a rough draft of one that was rejected.
Case in point for why they are so inconsistent, though I believe they have tightened the criteria and turned a more solid direction in recent years so the newest ones should all be pretty good.
Couldn’t get through Fleetwood Mac - Tusk, I think Mick Fleetwood pulled out of a series of interviews he promised during the development of the book, so the author kind of filled the gaps with his own mental breakdown.
Bjork - Homogenic and Miles Davis - Bitches Brew, and Kanye - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy were great too. Once you get through a few I’d be down to do a swap if you’re interested?
@phreakbrain, that’s too bad about ALO. I like Wax’s reviews when I happen to read them.
@W.B.T.G.Slinger, I happen to have Homogenic lined-up next, along with Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime. I’m getting all my copies through state libraries (my university has an awesome lending program) so cant’ swap, unfortunately.
Yesterday I finished The Wild Tchoupitoulas. Really solid history of the NOLA Mardi Gras Indians’ tribes, rituals, and (naturally) music. (One of my favorite albums too.)
Just started Paul Drummond’s Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, the Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound. Based on Julian Cope’s intro, I feel like I’m in for a wild ride.
Whoa now that is a cool one. I really like Roky Erickson. One of my Pittsburgh buddies introduced me to his music about a decade ago. The Evil One by Roky Erickson and the Aliens is the album I listened to most, but also really got into All That May Do My Rhyme. The 13th Floor Elevators stuff is wild, too.
I just learned that Levitation fest is named after the song by the 13th Floor Elevators.
One of the first things I learned is that early members of the Elevators (not Roky) had planned to leave TX for Australia and “import” bluegrass music there.
Trying to get through Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas, but this guy has a… distinctive writing style. Seems to relish in using three or more words to describe absolutely everything. I found one sentence that has the word “and” eleven times and Im not even 1/10 of the way in to the book…
Sometimes as I’m reading, my brain pranks me by hearing it monologued a la Monty Python mockumentary and then I’m giggling too much to keep reading…
Currently reading The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy. As with just about everything he does, it’s great. I just need a slightly longer train ride so that I get more time to read it.
I picked up this book to read on a flight to texas one time but I didn’t end up reading it (ended up listening to Gizz bootlegs the whole flight), I’m finally now coming around to it and it’s a fascinating insight into the background behind the legend of J Dilla and I’m learning a lot of important history in the process. The author is also clearly savvy to the history of music and music technology so there’s no gaps in info I feel as a big time synth/sampler enthusiast.
That was a tough book for me. I like his other books quite a bit, but I haven’t read them all. I liked Blood Meridian, especially, though it’s been a long time since I read it. The Passenger left me confused at a lot of parts and the story really started to take hold of me right near the end. It did leave me wanting to read the companion book. How are you enjoying it, @pageside84?
Update: I am now on book 14/14. Home stretch
I’m finally reading Urusula Le Guin’s The Wizard of Earthsea. I’d read The Left Hand of Darkness but had never checked out her Earthsea novels. It’s been a fun read so far with some nice symbolism. The power of words is strong in this book.
Still working my way through, nearing the end of book 7. And yeah, after this reread, book 4 is by far the best, not just of the series but possibly of King’s career. The descriptive passages in that book are utterly gorgeous, even sublime.
Got The Three Body Problem on tap next, enjoyed the series so very interested to experience the written version.
I just recently got to Eyes of the Dragon for the first time. I knew it was DT related but I really didn’t expect it to be such a direct precursor. Very unusual for a King book, it’s a big departure in style that doesn’t always work and feels a bit long for the plot, but still enjoyable. Very valuable background info on Flagg too, kind of wish I’d read it before the main series.
Three books into Malazan Book of the Fallen. Loving it but its a lot. Good rec for someone looking for some deep world building. So much stuff in there is metal as all heck. Content warning: a lot of violence. It is not a happy world despite frickin cool it is.
Its a lot of characters and drops you right into the world, so it doesn’t hold your hand much, but as long as you trust exposition will come at the right time it’s not as hard of a ride as some on the internet say. For those jumping in, there are some handy companion guides that do a great job as summaries and ongoing notes.
Blotter: The Untold Story of an Acid Medium, by Erik Davis
Half art theory & history of blotter design / production, part gallery of the artwork. Pretty neat!
